


remembrance

by yesitsalsoagun



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Dad Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Gen, Light Angst, nat cried at least ten times when i posted this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 22:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14342703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yesitsalsoagun/pseuds/yesitsalsoagun
Summary: McCree sees him. Genji sees him too.Reaper sees them and remembers.





	remembrance

McCree sees him.

 

He sees the smoke first, hears the shotguns go off—a familiar sound, just as familiar as the sound of them hitting the ground—and hits the ground with a pain in his side. The Reaper’s boots are heavy against the floor, and when McCree looks up at the dark figure, the mask of an owl staring down at him, he realizes he’s going to die.

 

As Reaper raises the shotguns in his hands, everything starts falling together.

 

The dual shotguns, the hunting of Overwatch agents, the voice that he heard earlier—gnarled yet familiar—the way he walked and fought and—

 

He sees him. Through the cracks in Reaper’s mask, McCree sees—

 

“ _Gabe_?” He chokes on the word, emotion clogging his throat because _no, no it can’t be_.

 

It can’t be.

 

He remembers Reyes. Reyes took him in after Deadlock, taught him, basically _raised_ him. He remembers the jokes they had and the drinks they shared once Jesse was old enough. He remembers calling Reyes “dad” on accident once, and then again. And again. And again until he decided to stop claiming it was an accident. He remembers Venice ( _You should know by now I’d never lead you wrong_ ) and remembers losing his arm, vaguely remembers Reyes being there ( _stay awake Jesse, you’ll be okay just stay awake, you’ll be okay_ ) and remembers leaving Blackwatch for good.

 

He remembers Gabriel Reyes.

 

There was no way Reyes—his commander, his boss, his _dad_ if he was being completely honest—could do the things that the Reaper had done. There was no way. _It can’t be him. It can’t be, it can’t be._

 

But Reaper hesitates. He doesn’t shoot, just stands there, standing over him and staring.

 

It can’t be, but it is.

 

“What—what _happened_ to you?”

 

Reaper says nothing.

 

An alarm blares, breaking him out of his trance. His head snaps toward the door before looking one last time at McCree.

 

“You know what happened.”

 

Then he turns into smoke, and he’s gone.

 

 

Genji sees him too.

 

McCree mentioned it quietly when they were alone.

 

_He’s alive_ , he’d said, eyes focused on something far away. _He’s alive, but he’s…not. He’s not the same person._

 

Genji remembers Gabriel Reyes. He remembers the man walking into the med bay and seeing him, listening to him as he explained he agreed to the procedure. He remembers joining Blackwatch. He remembers listening to the banter between Jesse and Gabe. He remembers Jesse calling Gabe “dad” all the time and eventually joining in himself. He remembers being angry and in pain, but remembers Jesse and Gabe making it a bit easier to bear.

 

_He’s not the same person_ , Jesse had said.

 

Genji begs to differ when he regains consciousness and finds the wraith-like form of Reaper hovering over him. He remembers seeing a sniper, beginning to deflect the shot, and then…

 

The details are blurry, but he realizes he’s out of the sniper’s sights now.

 

Reaper—Gabriel—begins to dematerialize, starting to fly away, but Genji calls after him.

 

“Thank you.”

 

 

Reaper sees them and remembers.

 

He sees Genji in Amelie’s crosshairs and whatever he has left of a heart stops in his dead chest.  Genji deflects it, for the most part, but still ends up hurt, part of his face plate damaged. Seeing him lying on the ground reminds him of when Gabriel walked into Angela’s med bay, and saw him hooked up to a dozen different machines, covered in blood and missing too much of his body. He remembers the cold fire in his eyes the day he agreed to join Blackwatch. He remembers the missions, his quiet words, the food Genji enjoyed even though he claimed he didn’t need to eat. He remembers him leaving.

 

He sees McCree lying on the ground, staring at him in disbelief and remembers twenty years ago, seeing the same man—same _kid_ —lying on the ground looking up at him. He remembers the spitfire kid sitting in an interrogation chamber lying about his age ( _I told you, I’m twenty-two)_ and snarking at him even though he was facing a life in prison. A life he didn’t deserve, not at that age, he was too young, _too_ _young_. He remembers offering him a place in Blackwatch, remembers him accepting. He remembers the fourteen years they spent together, the fourteen years Gabriel spent teaching him, guiding him, helping him unlearn the things Deadlock taught him. He remembers their missions, their jokes, the bond they shared. He remembers McCree getting upset, _angry_ during the Venice mission. He remembers the wedge it drove between them.

 

He remembers the explosion—the mission gone terribly wrong that took McCree’s arm. He remembers holding him in the dropship, telling him to _stay awake, you’ll be okay,_ _just stay awake Jesse, you’ll be okay_ , as he tried not to think about how much blood he lost and was losing.

 

He remembers visiting him in the hospital and telling him to get out before things got worse.

 

( _Can’t_ , Jesse slurred, still very obviously on painkillers _, who else’re you gonna trust around here?_ )

 

He remembers Jesse leaving.

 

He sees them both and remembers the fall of Overwatch. Jack’s negligence and the shouting from the UN. He remembers the fight. The explosion. He remembers lying in the rubble, bleeding out, a metal beam through his side. He remembers being angry.

 

He remembers being alone.

 

 

McCree and Genji survive long enough to become a nuisance for Talon. Reaper mutters insults directed at the two of them whenever he knows he’s within anyone’s earshot.

 

But mission after mission, they survive. He makes his anger and bitterness at them—at Overwatch—very clear, but he never manages to finish them off. Someone quietly suggests not sending Reaper on any mission where they might be present, but he insists. Angrily.

 

Amelie doesn’t mention it, just regards him with the same expression she always does. She doesn’t say anything about his secret, he doesn’t say anything about hers.

 

_(I don’t feel. That’s the point, isn’t it?_ She had hissed, more venom in her voice than someone with no emotion should have)

 

Moira…Moira knows. He knows she does. The way she smiles at him when he gets back from a mission.

 

He remembers her slyness during her Blackwatch years. The way she always got under his skin, turned him against his team. The Venice mission especially. _Why hadn’t he realized it sooner?_ ( _You did what needed to be done. There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.)_ He remembers the _experiments_ , the horrible pain all in the name of “science”. He remembers waking up after the Swiss base exploded, all shadows and smoke, his body not what it used to be, not what it was supposed to be.

 

He remembers the pain. He remembers the rage and bitterness that consumed him as he continued to work for Talon.

 

He remembers the cause of his anger. He remembers Overwatch. The traitor in Blackwatch. He remembers being abandoned by the people he trusted most.

 

But despite his anger, no matter how many chances he’s given to end Genji, end McCree, he can’t do it.

 

Because he remembers Genji Shimada, with cold eyes and missing limbs, lying in the med bay after Overwatch recovered him. Remembers him laughing so hard he cried at a stupid joke McCree had made.

 

Because he remembers Jesse McCree, 17, hiding his things and stealing food because he thought he was going to be tossed aside or killed if he messed up. Remembers being proud of him as he slowly but surely unlearned everything Deadlock had carved into him.

 

He sees them, and he remembers.

 

And he knows he can’t do it.


End file.
